Throughout time there has been a number of mass deaths among cultural groups. While being recorded in history, it is less talked about how these groups have grown since the incident. In the book Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being, author Harold Napoleon, uses pathos, logos, anecdote, polysyndeton, and diction to teach the reader about the effects of the Great Death on the Yup’ik people, and the correlation with alcoholism in Alaska natives. The devices are used to implant Napoleon’s theory of how after the loss of many Yup’ik people, PTSD struck in many of them and led to the Yup’iks being “biologically susceptible to alcohol abuse.” Napoleon, being an Alaskan Native man, uses his knowledge of the Yup’ik language to make sure his diction fits his writing to the best. To start, the name of the book is the word yuuyaraq, means “the way of the human being”. From this you can see that the Yup’ik language is filled with words with such deep meaning that English cannot always convey. Incorporating this …show more content…
This story is an anecdote and leads to the logos being used in the book. “The people grew desperate…Then the death started, with people wailing morning, noon, and night.” Napoleon uses a very detailed tale of the death among Yup’ik groups to show the logic behind why the Natives became susceptible to alcohol abuse. “...the person suffering from PTSD does not like himself. He is ashamed of himself…”. This addition to the book is very beneficial for persuading the reader. Along with the Great Death, Napoleon tells the story of the spirit world the natives believe in. “What the white men saw was not worship of the devil...but…being mindful of the spirit beings of their world with whom they had to live in harmony.” Learning about the culture of the group being focused on in a book is important, and is a key part of keeping the reader educated from the book and